


Sanctuary

by NeonCigarretesAtTheBeach



Category: Persona 5
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Let Goro be happy, Persona 5 The Royal - Freeform, Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers, Post-Canon, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:53:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25018837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeonCigarretesAtTheBeach/pseuds/NeonCigarretesAtTheBeach
Summary: "And that’s the moment Goro knows, the moment he finally realizes it. He doesn’t simply like her, but he’s completely and utterly in love with Sumire Yoshizawa."After defeating Maruki, Goro and Sumire team up in order to help each other grow and be better, but end up finding each other in the process.Or, Akechi Goro learns how to love.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Yoshizawa Sumire, Akechi Goro/Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi
Comments: 17
Kudos: 64





	Sanctuary

If Goro has to decide which was the moment he knew, it would probably be during the last trip to Mementos with the rest of the Phantom Thieves.

The rides to the underground hell of Shibuya were long and really, really tiring. 

That day, Kurusu had decided to take one last trip to finish all the remaining requests of that lame site, knowing that they just had five days before Maruki contacted Joker.

Their journey, as expected, was long and mostly dull by the exception of occasionally fighting shadows from time to time and battling the shadows from the requests.

So, by the time they finished all of the remaining requests and decided to leave Mementos, they were all obviously tired. 

The fact that most of the group took advantage of the long trips back to reality to get some sleep wasn’t surprising at all, but it made Goro uncomfortable during Sae-san’s palace, and it made him uncomfortable during Maruki’s too. 

In the front seat, Kurusu was driving while Niijima used his shoulder to get some rest herself. Sakura, like a child, took advantage of Niijima’s thigh to sleep. 

In the middle seat, Sakamoto and Okumura had completely doze off, using Kitagawa’s still awaken body to lean in and not fall to the ground. Kitagawa remained awake, drawing in his sketchbook and murmuring things to hisself from time to time.

And, finally, in the back seat, Takamaki was completely gone, resting her head in the wall of the bus, while Yoshizawa and Goro were the only ones battling the tiredness to stay up. 

Being next to Yoshizawa felt... weird, to say the least. And it wasn’t that Goro didn’t liked her, but it made Goro feel... well, weird. 

Whenever Yoshizawa was close to Goro, he felt his lips go dry. When Goro was trying to come up with strategies and felt Yoshizawa’s eyes on him, he would stutter, having to swallow the ridiculous amount of saliva that would housed in his mouth.

It wasn’t that she made him uncomfortable, it was that she made him _nervous._

Goro tried to exalt his lips, his shoulder pressed against Yoshizawa’s shoulder made his heart skipped beats. 

Suddenly, Goro felt Yoshizawa’s head pressed against his shoulder. Looking at her, all that Goro could see was the red hair of her leaning on him. It wasn’t that she fell asleep, it was that she dozed off on his shoulder, that was the worst part. 

Goro attempted to get Yoshizawa’s head off of his shoulder, but he eventually gave up and let her sleep peacefully. 

Yoshizawa’s hair scratching his neck made Goro’s heart skip even more beats than before, and the closeness between his body and Yoshizawa’s made his body feel warm.

Surprisingly, Goro didn’t hate the contact... he even kinda liked it.

"Hey, are you okay?" Across the room, Kurusu murmured at Goro. A smug grin on his face.

"Why do you ask for?" Goro whispered back. He really hoped that his voice sounded good, and not like he was about to melt on the seat.

"Nothin’, just asking." Kurusu answered, in a way less joking way. Even so, the grin on his face remained. "You should get some sleep, tho."

_No, fuck no._

Goro was not going to fall asleep. He was trying really hard to not fall asleep, but the warmth of her body made Goro felt warm too, and the steady sound of Morgana advancing through Mementos made Goro felt really, really sleepy...

—

When Goro came back to his senses, with opening his eyes being the most difficult task of the world, it didn’t took him long to realize that he he fell asleep. 

What really made Goro awake fully, was when he felt something scratching his cheek, only to realize that he’d fell asleep on top of Yoshizawa’s head. 

Quickly enough for no one to realize what was going on, but slow enough to not wake Yoshizawa in the process, Goro distanced his head from Yoshizawa’s. 

Lucky for him, the rest of the Phantom Thieves were still asleep, even Kitagawa’d fell asleep at some point. This way, Goro could pretend like only Yoshizawa fell asleep on his shoulder, and not like he feel asleep too using her head to get some needed rest.

Even with that, Goro was kinda enjoying the closeness with Yoshizawa. It made him feel nice, he liked the way he could concentrate on her steady breathing, and how that same breathing was weirdly calming him down.

Looking out the window, Goro watched how they were so close to the entrance of Mementos, and he decided to wake Yoshizawa up.

"Yoshizawa-san," he whispered. Moving his elbow upwards to wake her up. "Yoshizawa-san, we’re almost done." 

Yoshizawa, slowly, opened her eyes, which widen when she realized the situation she was in. Even quicker, she moved straight, leaving Akechi’s shoulder alone.

"O-Oh, sorry, Crow-senpai." She said. And Goro struggles to keep his facade of an unbothered person when she called him that again. "I didn’t realize I borrow your shoulder, I just... kinda fell asleep, I guess.

"It’s okay," Goro answered. When he realizes that his mask was slipping up, he added something. "Just make sure that it doesn’t happen again."

"Will do." Yoshizawa said, and she _smiled_ at him, and Goro swore he never saw such beautiful a smile before.

The rest of the trip goes without problems. They all leave the metaverse, and each Phantom Thief goes their own way.

Goro, alone, headed to the square in Shibuya, when he heard a loud shout behind him calling for his name. 

"Wait!"

Turning around, Goro watched as Kitagawa was sprinting as fast as he could towards him. With his head low, and his arms back, he was running the same way he runs in the metaverse - ridiculous as fuck. A tiny smile coiled on Goro’s lips, as he tried really hard to not chuckle. 

"What’s the matter, Kitagawa-san?" Goro asked, still trying real hard to don’t laugh.

"Oh, thank goodness I managed to catch up with you," the artist said, inhaling and then exhaling to recover his breath. "I wanted to give this to you." 

Opening his backpack, Kitagawa grabbed his sketchbook, teared a page and placed it on Goro’s hand. "Akira-kun told me that whenever I decide to draw someone I should ask for their consent or at least let them know. You were asleep, so I did not wanted to disturb you, but I should at least give this to you." 

Taking a look at the paper, it was a sketch, as expected. In the drawing, Goro, without his Crow-like mask, was completely asleep, resting his cheek on top of Yoshizawa’s head. She, as well, had her head on his shoulder.

They both looked at ease, peacefully almost, like that wasn’t the first time they’ve done that, nor it would be the last one. They looked like they knew each other for a long time, like they trusted each other.

It wasn’t that the drawing was beautifully made, it was how it made Goro feel.

He felt like he was about to fucking break. He tried to hold back his emotion, like he’d been training himself to do, but his feelings overwhelm him. 

"Thank you," Goro swallowed heavily, "I appreciate it."

Kitagawa smiled heartfelt. "You’re welcome, Akechi-san."

Kitagawa seemed like he was about to leave, but he turned around and spoke to Goro once again. "Hey, Akechi-san," 

"Yes?"

"I don’t know how do you think about yourself," Kitagawa said, "but I am glad that you are working with us, even if it is for a little while."

And just like that, like he didn’t just destroyed Goro, Kitagawa leaved. 

Goro’s throat clenched, and his eyes began to feel watery. No, he will not cry, he will not.

Grabbing his bicycle, Goro rode back to his apartment. Where he took the coldest shower he could have, and stared at the drawing for a few minutes. 

No. He didn’t have time to think about this, about _her_ , he needed to focus on erasing Maruki’s reality, and how would he convince Kurusu to not accept it when Maruki tells the truth about Goro. 

Even if he wanted to, even if the idea of spending time with Yoshizawa felt nice, he won’t have that.

Standing up from the couch in his living room, he leaves the draw next to his silver suitcase, like a reminder of what could’ve been, and proceeded to lay on his bed, where he stared at the ceiling until he dozed off.

  
**________**

_Well_ \- Goro took a sip of his sixth or seventh cup of coffee, he had no idea anymore - _shit._

Head-first, Goro dived in to finish the cup of coffee, with Kurusu standing in front of him behind the counter of LeBlanc, either surprised or weirder out... heh, maybe both.

"Do you want a refill?" Kurusu asked, staring at Goro.

"... No, I think I’ve had enough." 

Goro didn’t quite understood what happened. Everything was going according to plan, Maruki contacted Kurusu, and Akechi convinced Kurusu of not accepting Takuto’s reality. Together, they defeated Maruki and erased his reality. 

That’s where the problem began. Goro was supposed to die once Maruki’s reality was destroyed, however, Akechi woke up just fine on the morning of the fourth of February, having absolutely no idea of what just happened.

Akechi spend a few days inside his apartment, unsure if he even wanted to go out back to the real world. 

Until that night, when Goro abandoned his apartment and walked mindlessly through the streets of Tokyo. When he regained control of his brain, he was standing in front of LeBlanc, with Sakura Sojiro and Kurusu looking at him, both frozen, like they just saw a ghost. 

And well, maybe they did. 

Then, Kurusu welcomed him in, and explained to him what happened after they defeated Maruki, and how he went to juvie. Sakura, in his part, said 'I need a smoke', left the cafe and never came back. Morgana gave him a respectful stare before going back up to give him and Kurusu a moment. All of this with lots of coffee and curry in-between. 

"Well," Kurusu took the cup of coffee Goro was using and placed it in the sink. Then, he walked over the counter, and sat down in the booth next to Goro. "I’m glad you’re okay, for whatever that’s worth." 

Goro groaned in response.

"Well?" Kurusu continued, "what do you plan to do next?"

"Heh," a sarcastic bark escaped Goro’s lips, "I’ve no idea. All my life I’ve always had a single goal. First, it was making Shido pay. Then, it was defeating Maruki and erasing his reality. I wasn’t expecting to live after Maruki’s reality was gone, not that I didn’t wanted to, I just simply didn’t thought I would live after that. And now, I have no fucking idea of what to do now." 

Kurusu’s gray eyes were focused on Goro. "Well, maybe this time you can finally be the person you want to be." 

"What?"

Kurusu smiled. "You said it yourself, the main reason why you didn’t accepted Maruki’s reality was because you didn’t wanted to be controlled again. Well, now no one’s controlling you, now you have the strings of your own life." 

"That honestly sounds terrifying." Goro answered, earning a giggle from Kurusu.

"But isn’t that like, the point of life?" Kurusu said, "That is terrifying? Listen, if you want to stay here, hide yourself from the world for the rest of your life, then be my guest. I won’t even tell the others that you’re still alive. But I know you, and I’m sure that’s not what you wanna do."

Goro analyzed Kurusu’s words, and then, a smile curled on his lips. "I guess you do have a point. You may tell the others that I survived. The sooner I can get this shit done the better." 

"Okay. No plans for the future yet?" Kurusu asked. He might’ve not realized it, but Kurusu’s tone of voice felt way more happier and alive.

"Well," Goro began, "since I didn’t made it to the date my entrance exam was going to be, I guess going to college isn’t an option, at least not for this year. But," and then, Goro thought of something. "I guess that taking a sabbatical year doesn’t sound too bad."

Kurusu smiled. "Sounds great, Goro. Now, I’m going to take this garbage off and then I’ll let the others now that you’re fine, I hope you’re ready."

Goro nodded in form of a yes. Before Kurusu exited LeBlanc, Akechi spoke up again.

“Wait," he said. Kurusu stopped at the door and turned around to look at Goro. Now that Akechi has an opportunity to live a again, to start over, to be the person he wanted to be, then maybe he could start by swallowing his pride and being grateful for once. "Thank you, Kurusu, for everything."

Kurusu smiled again, but that time it wasn’t his signature smug grin, it was a friendly and kind smile, coming from a person who Goro though of not just as his rival, but as his friend too. 

"Anytime, man," Kurusu answered, "anytime." 

  
**_______**

Goro decided to stick around before Kurusu left Tokyo to go back to his hometown, but even after he left, there weren’t many Phantom Thieves left in the city.

Kurusu, Sakamoto and Takamaki all left Tokyo in order to pursue their dreams closer.

Niijima, Okumura and Sakura stayed in town, but they were so busy - Niijima and Okumura with living alone and entering college, while Sakura was just getting used to being in high school and being in places with lots of people - that they barely had the time to talk in the chat, or something simpler like hanging out with the rest.

This way, the only ones that were still semi-close with each other were Kitagawa, Yoshizawa and Goro.

That didn’t mean that like, they all stopped taking to each other from night to day, but they were talking and joking less with each other everyday. Even if the group didn’t wanted to admit it, Goro knew that it was a matter of time before they all went from close friends, to colleagues to acquaintances to strangers.

And by them he means the actual Phantom Thieves. Goro is just kinda there. 

Goro, on his own part, took a job as a waiter in a restaurant in Shibuya. Sure, it wasn’t being an idol and considered as the the second coming of the Detective Prince, but Goro enjoys being a waiter way more than he enjoyed being a Detective Prince for sure.

Of course, it didn’t took long before the media and the paparazzi found him and the newspapers had headlines like 'The Fall From Grace of the Detective Prince' or 'Top Five Theories of what Went Down with Akechi Goro', but Goro didn’t care about what the media or the newspapers said about him, he felt way more happy living a normal, boring life. 

Besides, that job was just to keep him busy and earn money before entering college.

But, apart from his job, it’s not like he did much of his life. He would watch movies and T.V shows until he fell asleep, and he even wasted money on a PlayStation 4 just to found out that he didn’t really like video games.

He still chatted with Kurusu once in a while. They talked about what was going on with their lives and Kurusu at times send him memes to which Goro had no idea of the context nor was he interested in finding out.

Akechi, at times, considered ringing up Kitagawa or any of the remaining Phantom Thieves left to hang out or something, but he never dared to. 

Kitagawa and Niijima seemed too busy for their own goods, and Goro still didn’t dared to talk privately to Okumura or Sakura.

And, with Yoshizawa... well, Goro thought that he would like to get a haircut, or new clothes before taking to Yoshizawa. But then he would just postponed the call. At that time, Yoshizawa Sumire still made Akechi Goro nervous as fuck. 

But, one day, when Goro was probably at her tenth episode of the fourth season of Breaking Bad, his phone rang up. Picking it up, Goro saw that the caller was Yoshizawa.

"Hello?" Goro asked, carefully.

_"Akechi-senpai, hey! Did I catch you at a bad time?"_ On the other line, Yoshizawa stuttered and stumbled as she spoke, like she was trying to put her thoughts into words.

"Uh... no. So? What’s the matter, Yoshizawa-san?"

_"Oh, cool, so how are you doing? Haven’t heard from you in a while."_ Sumire asked, her voice filled with nervousness. 

Goro didn’t know Yoshizawa that well, obviously, even so, he can still tell when she’s making trivial conversation before getting to the point she wanted to make. 

"Pretty much the same. Same job, same life. So... what’s the issue here, Yoshizawa-san?" Goro closed his eyes the moment he said that. He was being an asshole again, and Goro’d promised himself to at least try to not be an asshole to everyone.

Yoshizawa gasped, she was caught. _"Oh, yeah, how could you tell?"_ She laughs, but it’s the nervous kind of laugh. _"Yeah, so look, I wanted to call you because... and you can say no, of course, but I wanted to know if you would be interested in... ugh, look, there’s this movie that I wanna watch, and I was wondering if you would want to watch with me?"_

That time, it was Goro’s turn to gasp. His lips went dry again, and his stomach felt the same way it felt whenever he was close to Yoshizawa.

_"I mean, of course you can say no, I know that you’re really busy so there’s not problem if you can’t-"_

In the privacy of his room, a small smile coiled in Goro’s lips, even if he tried really hard to not smile. "Yoshizawa-san," he says, in order to calm her down, and it worked. Goro realized that he was making his voice deeper than it really was. "I would like that."

_"O-Oh, cool! That’s cool... soooo, do you have like, a car, or something? I mean, that doesn’t matter! We could take the train, obviously, I don’t know why I asked."_

"I don’t have a car," Goro answered. His nervousness was decreasing slowly, but his wishes to be with Yoshizawa increase. Maybe Goro was, for once, getting sick of the loneliness, maybe he just really wanted to spend time with Yoshizawa. "But I have a bike, maybe that’ll do. It’s probably more packed than a car but at least it’s more refreshing." 

The moment he said that, Goro arched his eyebrows. Did he really just made a joke? 

_"Are you, perhaps, inviting me to take a ride in your fabulous bike, Akechi-senpai?"_ Yoshizawa asked, jokingly. She sounded way more sure of herself and comfortable than she sounded minutes ago. She even laughed in a genuine way, a sound that Goro liked. 

Goro laughed too, genuinely, and it actually surprised him. When was the last time he had a genuine laugh? Not one out of politeness or uncomfortableness, but a genuine, happy laugh. "I guess I did." _"Well, no take backs now! You owe me a ride on your bike! I’ll see you on Saturday, I’ll meet you outside the entrance of the theater at five o’clock-"_

"-In my bike," Goro interrupted as a joke, earning another laugh from Yoshizawa. Akechi was beginning to take a liking on making her laugh.

_"See you Saturday, Akechi-senpai! Don’t be late!"_

"See you, Yoshizawa-san." 

She hanged up, leaving Goro alone to realize that his smile’d widen from ear to ear. Goro went to his room, and, for the first time, he realized that he had the fashion style of a sixty year old grandpa. 

Goro closed his eyes, and shake his head. No, he had enough with feeling like he was about to melt like a fucking ice cream whenever he was closed to her, he wasn't going to begin worrying about his dressing style too, now. 

He could only get so fucking flustered with Yoshizawa, and Goro was beginning to kind of like that feeling.

**__________**

Okay, Goro is lying. The last trip to Mementos wasn’t the moment he knew, it was probably during the first 'date' he had with Sumire Yoshizawa.

The week passed, perhaps a little too quickly for Goro.

He considered if he should do something about himself, maybe getting a haircut, or new clothes, but his pride was too strong to accept that maybe he wanted to look good in front of Yoshizawa. 

Saturday arrived, and with it so did the nerves. He rode his bike all the way to Shibuya and arrived in time to find Yoshizawa waiting in front of the theater. 

"Akechi-senpai!" Yoshizawa screamed, earning a few looks from the people around the area.

"Yoshizawa-san, it’s a pleasure to see you again." Goro tried really hard to recall his persona of - how Kurusu called it - edgy bitch and complete asshole, otherwise his nervousness would’ve took control of himself, but when he tried it was just to found out that he couldn’t summon that persona of his anymore. 

The rest of the afternoon went without problems. While Goro at the beginning had the struggle of a lifetime to speak a simple sentence to her, Yoshizawa seemed pretty carefree. Since they had time to spare before the movie started, she took him all around Shibuya, inside pretty much every open shop in the area. She talked a lot, about herself, her parents, her life at Shujin at that time and how were her trainings as a gymnast going.

Initially, Goro had plenty of trouble of following her thread, but as the minutes went, he began to feel every time less nervous, and each time more comfortable around her. He was more talkative to her by the minute and the conversations began to turn more fluid. But, as he gradually stopped feeling nervous, he realized just how good she looked. There were moments Akechi felt hypnotized by her scarlet eyes and her red hair.

All of these, the nervousness, all of his realizations of how fucking beautiful Yoshizawa is, how much he liked her personality, her laugh, the way he thought he could stare at her eyes forever, and how time went flying by her side were all brand-new feelings and sensations to Goro. But, instead of closing himself in, instead of rejecting those emotions like he used to do, he decided that, for once, he would go with the flow, and stopped thinking.

And oh, how much fun Goro had doing that.

His low giggles at Yoshizawa’s puns tuned into full-on laughs, making Yoshizawa to laugh at his laugh too, provoking the both of them to laugh out loud in the busy and noisy streets of Shibuya.

At times, Goro could hear the sound of photos being taken and the murmurs of people that realized that he was Akechi Goro, but he was so busy thinking about how fucking gorgeous Yoshizawa was and in enjoying that electric feel whenever their hands would brush with each other’s, or when their faces were too close to each other’s to be bothered by it. 

By the time it was time to get into the theater, Goro was having too much fun with Yoshizawa to even bother in trying to look cool or serious.

They went into the screen and watched the movie, and by the time they left the theater Shibuya was being guarded under the bruisings of the night sky. 

"So, wait, Kurusu actually did that?!” Goro laughed as he spoke. Him and Yoshizawa were leaving the theater, arms intertwined.

"Yes! Oh my God, you should’ve seen him, he came back with the face completely red and covered in mud." 

Goro’s lips curled in a malicious smile. "Oh, I’m gonna have a good time making fun of him next time we speak." 

Goro and Yoshizawa walked until they arrived at Goro’s bike. 

"Well," he said. "It seems like the time has come, it’ll be packed, but you’re about to ride the finest bike of all Tokyo." Goro still couldn’t believe he was actually joking. Shitty jokes, of course, but jokes nonetheless. 

But then, something changed. 

"Thank you, Akechi-senpai," Yoshizawa’s lips tried to coil in a smile, but they failed. Her face’d turned completely red, and her eyes began to get watery. "For, y’know, spending time with me."

Yoshizawa was _crying._

And just like that, Goro’s brain got turned on again.

He never knew how to react when someone was crying in front of him, or being really vulnerable. After defeating the shadows of the people requested in Mementos, he counted on Kurusu or Takamaki to be the moral compasses, so he could just stand awkwardly in the back as the shadows whimpered.

But now, there was no Joker of Ann to be the moral compasses, now it’s just him. 

Looking around him, he realized that many people were beginning to take notice in him and Yoshizawa, and, most importantly, many were beginning to walk exactly toward the direction Goro and Yoshizawa were. 

This way, Goro knew what was the first step: taking Yoshizawa out of such a public and crowded place. 

Going at first for her hand, but ultimately deciding to grab her by the arm, Goro said: "come on, let’s go." 

"Where-"

"Just follow me, okay? C’mon."

He had absolutely no idea on where to go, but his steps finally took him to Inoshira Park. Sure, it wasn’t the most deserted place in the city, but it was at least deserted enough for Goro to found a good spot to help Yoshizawa sit down. 

Goro didn’t knew at all how to deal with this kind of situations, so he did what he would like for other people to do if he were to break down in front of somebody. 

He sat Yoshizawa in the edge of a bench, and Goro sat in the other edge of the same bench, leaving a safe space between them. He didn’t wanted her to feel even more uncomfortable than she already felt by sitting literal centimeters from her, closing any kind of personal space she could have.

At some point, Goro heard Yoshizawa trying to fight back the tears. "Don’t," he said, trying to make his voice sound as low he could. "Don’t hold it back, it won’t make you feel better, just let it out." 

Yoshizawa did as he said, and when she couldn’t cry more, she cleaned her face with the back of her hand. 

"God," Yoshizawa said, once her face was semi-clean and it wasn’t as red and wet as before. "You must think of me as a liability and as such a dramatic person after watching me cry so much." 

"You shouldn’t give a shit about the way I think of you." Goro answered. 

"But it’s true," Yoshizawa smiled weakly, "specially after all you’ve been through, my problems must look like-" 

_That._ Now that’s what made Goro finally react.

"No," he interrupted, "no. Yoshizawa-san, you must understand that everything that’s happened to me, everything I’ve done, it has been my fault." 

"But still," she insisted, "at least you realized that what you did was wrong and-" 

"Yes, I did. After the Phantom Thieves beat the shit out of me twice, only then I realized that what I did was wrong. But you? Even after your fight with Joker, you could’ve gone back to Maruki like nothing happened. But did you do that? No. You stand your ground and tried to be better and you succeeded, you moved over Kasumi, and carved your own path, and became the person you wanted to be. Yes, you had the help of all of us, but it was ultimately you the one who decided to change and you alone. And you don’t know just how brave that is. I... maybe you won’t believe this but I, I kinda admire how strong you are compared to the rest of the group."

Yoshizawa laughed, but it wasn’t the genuine and easy-going laugh that Goro liked, it sounded like the kind of sarcastic bark Goro used so much. "That’s... that’s not true."

She stand up from the bench and walked towards the little lake that was a few centimeters away from the bench she was sitting in, grabbed a rock from the ground and throw it to the water.

"Everything you said," Yoshizawa began, "I used to believe that too. But, after Kurusu-senpai left Tokyo... it just hasn’t been the same. When I stopped being Kasumi, I had all of you to help me, specially Akira, all of you were there to help me keep going and to strive to be better. But now? Now that Ryuji-kun and Takamaki-senpai and Akira are all gone, and the rest barely have any time to speak or hang out, it’s just me and my thoughts all the time, now. And that’s... that’s scary. I’m not that good at, y’know, making friends so it’s really lonely being in Shujin now. And now that it’s just me against the world... it-it feels like I’m drowning all the time."

She turned around and looked at Goro. "That’s why I kinda got a bit emotional after we left the theater," Yoshizawa grabbed another rock, and throw it to the water with way more force and violence than last time. "It’s just... tonight is the first time that I felt truly happy in a long, long time, because I got to hang out with you."

The inability to make friends. The constant feeling of drowning and not knowing how to swim. The horrible moments when it’s just you and your thoughts. It all felt familiar to Goro, way too familiar.

"And I thought I was going to be okay," Yoshizawa continues, "because I throw away the mask of Kasumi, because I stopped using the mannerisms she used to do, because I _wanted_ to be Sumire. But now that Kasumi’s mask is gone I just-"

"-Still don’t have the slightest idea of who you are, what you want or what you like." Goro finished the sentence for her. He also stand up, walked over to Yoshizawa’s side, grabbed a rock and violently throw it to the water. "Yeah. Been there."

"Oh... _oh!_ I’m so sorry, Akechi-senpai! Look at me, talking about myself when you-"

"No," Goro stopped her from finishing the sentence again. "That’s not what I meant. Don’t make your problems less than what they really are, that never works, trust me. I just... get what you mean."

"You aren’t the horrible villain you think of yourself to be, you do know that, right, Akechi-senpai?" Yoshizawa didn’t noticed it, but she moved from when she was to be closer to Goro. It was a similar feeling to the one she used to feel during Maruki’s palace, a feeling of _safeness_. She felt safer when she was close to Akechi, not mattering the situation.

"Heh. Well, I wouldn’t know about that."

A giggle escaped Yoshizawa’s lips. "Huh, look at us. We where supposed to be way better by now, and yet we’re still at step one."

And then, a thought crosses Goro’s mind. It was a an idea that came from his rational and irrational parts of his brain coming together. "Well," Goro began, "it doesn’t have to be that way forever."

Yoshizawa frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Akechi plotted his words carefully, making sure that he wouldn’t say something really stupid and fuck everything up in the process. "Yeah, we may have no idea of who we are or what we want. But maybe we can figure it out... maybe we can do it together."

"Like, being partners in... finding ourselves?"

It was like she took the words from Goro’s mouth. "Yeah! Exactly like that! It doesn’t have to be anything big or anything, we can just do different stuff that neither you or me have done before and find out if we liked it or not." 

A smiled curled in Yoshizawa’s lips, but this time, the smile looked real, out of pure happiness. "Yeah, that sounds cool. Like what?"

"Mhm, I dunno," Goro took her hand up to his chin, trying to think. "Maybe... Have you ever been to... a karaoke?" 

"... No, I actually haven’t been to one."

(That, actually, was a lie. Sumire had been in a Karaoke before, and it would take Goro some time to find out that she lied simply because the idea of spending more time with Goro sounded nice.)

"Then a karaoke bar it is! When?"

"I don’t know... does next Saturday sounds good to you?"

Goro smiled. "Sounds great, Yoshizawa-san."

"Then... I guess I’ll see you next Saturday."

Yoshizawa began to walk away from Goro when he decided to stop her. 

"Wait, hold on!"

Sumire stopped and turned around to look at Goro. "Yeah?"

_Iwanttospendmoretimewithyou._ "Look, it’s late already and most of the last trains for today have already passed. And, if I remember correctly, I still owe you a ride on my bike." 

Yoshizawa laughed sincerely. "Oh, so am I finally getting that ride?"

Goro laughed too. "That you are." 

Goro and Yoshizawa, together, walked all the way back to Shibuya, and got on Akechi’s bike.

Both were skinny enough, so sharing the bicycle wasn’t a problem. As Akechi rode through the city, he felt Yoshizawa wrap her arms around his waist, and rested her chin on his shoulder, and Goro, for the first time in years, didn’t mind having someone so close to him. 

Yoshizawa would giggle every time Goro went a little too fast, and Akechi enjoyed when Yoshizawa would, without noticing, sing different songs at his ear. 

And Goro felt truly happy.

**__________**

The next week after that, Goro and Yoshizawa went to the Karaoke bar, and they didn’t stopped there. 

They kept going to all kinds of different places. Each time, they got to know different things about each other. 

Goro knew that maybe he had a natural talent for singing, while Yoshizawa was horrendously bad at it. She began recommending him movies and Goro recommended Yoshizawa different books. 

Goro found himself naturally attracted to thrillers and murder mysteries, but he also got a knack for musicals and romantic comedies.

Yoshizawa, in her part, fell in love with essay-type of books.

After a few weeks, Goro and Yoshizawa began training and exercising together, and he even accompanied Yoshizawa’s to her gymnastics trainings. 

One day, Goro went to cheer Yoshizawa up in one of her official competitions.

After the competition ended and she localized him, she smiled wide, screamed 'Akechi-senpai!’ At the top of her lungs, sprinted towards him and hugged him. 

"So, how was I?" She asked. 

"You were great, Yoshizawa-san." 

Yoshizawa hugged him even harder, and, after that, Goro made sure to not lose any of her competitions. And both of them got a little tradition of going to eat somewhere after the competitions were over.

Yoshizawa also got closer to Akechi. She would wait for him to get out of his job so they could go hang out somewhere, or at least go over to quickly say hi to him. 

They also began texting each other every once in a while. Sometimes, the messages were simple texts wishing each other a good morning or night. Other times, they would talk about the dumbest shit that crosses their minds, or chatted about each other’s days.

Soon, they stopped calling each other ’Akechi-senpai’ and ’Yoshizawa-san’. And began using ‘Goro’ and ‘Sumire’ pretty much all the time.

Goro even invited her to the Jazz Club he frequented so much. And the long talks with Sumire about literally anything and the musing caressing his ears is his favorite way of relaxation. 

And not just there, Goro can have a wonderful time anywhere, as long as Sumire is by his side. 

And the feeling’s mutual, since Sumire couldn’t think of ever feeling _that_ way for any other person before. Goro makes her feel nice and warm, like she can tell him literally anything and she won’t feel uncomfortable. She enjoys being with him, she feels safe and loved. 

At some point, Sumire took Goro to LeBlanc to teach him how to cook. He was a complete mess at the beginning, and ended up leaving Sakura’s kitchen looking like a war zone, but he learned to get better bit by bit. Besides, he would he lying if he said that cooking next to Sumire isn’t something he could do all day. 

During Goro’s birthday, he spent all day going different places with Sumire. From the arcade to the planetarium to the theater, and Goro didn’t remembered having so much fun in his previous birthdays.

One day, Sumire visited Goro in his apartment, and there’s no use in trying to explain the way her eyes lit up the moment she saw Goro’s dusty PlayStation 4.

Needless to say, Sumire loved playing on Goro’s PlayStation. And, at times, when Goro sats by her side as she played, reading a book or studying, he catches himself playing with Sumire’s hair. He immediately stops the moments he realizes it, but Sumire never brought it up, nor seemed to be bothered by it. 

Goro even thought Sumire how to ride a bike, and he enjoyed taking morning rides all around Tokyo with her in the weekends. 

When Sumire opened Goro’s refrigerator, and found one orange juice and a pack of froze chicken, she began to take care of Goro’s health. They were different kind of diets. And, while Goro had it hard at the beginning, he’s now used to eating in a... well, in a healthy way. 

Soon, they began taking auto each other about Kasumi and Akechi’s mother. 

For Sumire, it felt good being able to talk about Kasumi in the way she did. While she will always feel a little bit of guilt for what happened, he feels like she’s earned her sister’s forgiveness. She gets better at gymnastics every day, and she’s trying to fix her relationship with her father, and while is a slow process, Sumire thinks she’s in the right tracks. 

Sumire now knows who she is, and now, she has her family, her hobbies, her aspirations and _Goro_ to look forward to.

On Goro’s side, taking about his mother was way more difficult. 

He stumbled and struggled to found the right words. Finally, he talked to Sumire about her, about the long nights in the bathhouse, about the night she found her in the bathtub with her wrists cut. 

And he cried.

But Sumire didn’t abandoned him, she stayed by his side, hugged him as she buried her fingers on his hair and let him cry like a fucking baby for all the time he wanted. And Goro realized that crying wasn’t such a bad thing.

And it felt good to finally being able to mourn his mother properly. 

Goro accompanied Sumire to Kasumi’s grave, and Sumire accompanied Goro to her mother’s grave. And both of them got to finally mourn their loved ones with the help of each other.

Goro, all on his own, even asked Okumura and both Sakuras for their forgiveness, and while he thinks he’s still a long way to got of earning it, at least Goro can look Haru, Sojiro and Futaba in the eyes now.

After a few months, Goro started visiting Sumire in her house. While uncomfortable at first, Goro slowly began to get closer to Sumire’s parents, and her parents also began to take a liking to Akechi.

It was a slow process, but for Goro, it felt good being able to trust adults again, even if they were just two. 

There were moments, specially at Sumire’s house, where Goro would think that there was really a future where he could be happy for good, he just had to reach high and grab it. 

At times, he got that feeling when he watched Sumire, when his eyes were locked in hers. Or when he was sitting in the Yoshizawa’s family table, listening and watching them share stories and laugh at each other, and Goro would catch himself feeling at home.

Short, but beautiful moments, in which Goro would think that, if he just worked hard enough, he could truly get and deserve a future in which he’s happy. 

**_________**

Alright, Goro is lying again. He didn’t realized it neither during the trip to Mementos or his first ‘date’ with Sumire. But now he’s pretty sure he knows when he knew, and that was just three days ago.

Sumire’d come over to Goro’s house, simply for the sake of it.

Now, Sumire liked to dance, that was something Goro learned over the course of their relationship. After both of them had enough trust to share their music tastes with each other, Sumire liked to out on music out loud in the apartment. 

The playlists - which were bizarre combinations of Goro and Sumire’s tastes - would sound all over the apartment while both of them sing until neighbors came down to tell them to keep it quiet. 

But, that day, Sumire decided to do more than singing, and she began dancing around the apartment.

At some point, she went over - walking at the rhythm of the song - towards Goro, and extended a hand to him. "May I have this dance?" She asked in a ridiculous but really fucking cute way, like in those romcom movies Goro enjoyed watching. Or, at least that’s what Goro thought.

"Oh, I don’t think you would wanna see me dance." Goro answered. Even if he tried to keep himself composed, he could feel a blush reaching and burning his cheeks.

"Oh, who cares, just c’mon." Sumire pleaded, but never stopped dancing. 

"No! Besides," Goro, focusing, recognize the song sounding in the speakers he bought out of boredom. "Isn’t that Plastic Love? Y’know, the most popular Japanese song?" 

"Oh, I didn’t know you were a esnob for music." Sumire answered in a teasing way. 

"I’m not! I just-"

"Then shut up and dance." Sumire grabbed Goro’s hand, and began dancing around him.

Goro ultimately gave up and began dancing too, at first, a bit too to robotic, but as the sing went on, he slowly began to loose up.

Soon, he was dancing in the same exaggerated way as Sumire. He didn’t cared about his dance moves or trying to keep up with Sumire, he simply went with the flow as he jumped, swing and giggle with Sumire. 

At the middle of Plastic Love, he, without realizing, intertwined his fingers with Sumire’s, and continued dancing, just that this time he was probably a bit too close to her.

In a much more synced way, he swing through apartment, keeping Sumire’s balance by grabbing her by her hips. She wrapped her arms around him, burying her face on his shoulder, and Goro could feel her hot breath.

They stopped dancing. She raised up her face and looked Goro directly at his face. Akechi’s fingers felt glued at her hips. 

Akechi saw Sumire’s eyes go from his eyes to his lips.

Goro appreciated Sumire’s eyes. Those motherfucking beautiful scarlet eyes of hers that Goro could get lost for hours in. Her red hair, that Goro was no longer afraid to admit that he liked playing with. 

And simply, Goro appreciated Sumire Yoshizawa as a whole. She was the first person he felt he could tell literally everything without feeling uncomfortable. 

He appreciated her bravery, her bad jokes, the way her eyes would lit up when she saw him waiting for her outside of Shujin, or when she recognized him on the benches during Sumire’s competitions. 

He appreciated the way she sang unconsciously even if she wasn’t very good at it. He loved hanging out with her, it doesn’t matter the place as long as Sumire is with him.

He appreciated how intelligent she was, how she was not afraid of doing the right thing, not mattering the consequences. He loves her cooking and enjoys eating with Yoshizawa as they watch a movie in Goro’s shitty T.V. 

Goro’s mind wanders. From the first time he met her, to his instinctive feeling of protection he felt when he saw her being reckless in Maruki’s palace. To the time they fell asleep together in Mementos, to being able of being completely honest with each other that time in the Inoshira Park. To their morning routines of riding in bike together all across Tokyo. And finally, to the present, where Goro’s eyes are focused on Sumire’s face, as they both finished dancing, and sees how her face is completely red out of blush.

And this time, Goro is unable to hold himself, and finally says what has been on his mind every time he hangs out with her. 

"You’re gorgeous."

Sumire’s blush intensifies. "Goro... I..."

And that’s the moment Goro knew, the moment he finally realizes it. He doesn’t simply likes her, but he he’s completely and utterly in love with Sumire Yoshizawa.

And there’s that feeling again. 

The feeling that there’s more to life than this short moments of pure silence he feels at times. That, as long as he has Sumire with him the idea of growing old doesn’t sound too bad.

But this time, Goro won’t let that feeling escape his fingers again. He’s alive for a reason, and now he understands what Kurusu said to him at LeBlanc completely. He will seizure the moment, and he will try to live and love, because now, that’s what Goro wants. 

And Goro kisses Sumire. 

His brain goes through an electricity wave. Sumire gasps at the kiss, but her body relaxes almost immediately, and kisses him back.

Goro raises his hands and caresses Sumire’s neck, she buries her fingers on his hair, as they pull each other closer. 

Akechi feels like his heart is about to explode as Sumire runs her hands over his back. 

Goro and Sumire eventually break the kiss, and now her blush has reached crimson levels of red, but there’s a a smile on her face.

"I’m sorry." Goro says. He has no fucking idea of what people say to each other after they kiss. Do they even say something?

"No, don’t be," she answers. Sumire’s smile widens. "I’ve been hoping you would that for a long time."

Goro smiles too, and both of them laugh in the most nervous and teenage way possible.

Goro kisses her again, and he thinks that he could kiss her forever. 

Sumire buried her face on Goro’s chest. "You’re warm." She says. 

"It’s that a complaint?" Goro laughs as he asks.

Sumire didn’t laugh, but Goro can feel her smile. "No."

Goro holds her tight. More songs sound through the speakers, and him and Sumire, still holding each other, dance slowly in the apartment.

There’s a happy future for Goro, all he has to do is reach and grab it.

**Author's Note:**

> The tittle and overall content of this fic were inspired by the song Sanctuary by joji. Which is not only a great song but I also think it describes the Akesumi dynamic pretty fucking well.


End file.
